Stuart Brown, host of the Broadway music radio program "On Broadway," reviews NYC and CT stage offerings as well as ruminating about other theatrical matters.

Monday, April 3, 2017

Review of "Assassins"

A musical about Presidential assassins
and would-be assailants is the highly unusual, somewhat creepy, premise for a
full-fledged musical.Yet, in 1990
Stephen Sondheim and John Weidman created such a show called, aptly, Assassins, which is receiving a spirited
and passionate production at Yale Rep through April 8th.

The cast of Assassins, book by John Weidman, music and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim, directed by James Bundy.Photo by Carol Rosegg, 2017.

The production features an impressive ensemble
cast, who bring to life the irrationality and disturbed state of each
person.Librettist Weidman mashes up groups
of characters as well as scrutinizing their individual foibles and
beliefs.He tries to get into the soul
of each person through probing vignettes that examine their backstory.He is successful in creating
three-dimensional characters, most mentally ill, hold unfounded grudges or are
deranged nationalists.The rogue’s
gallery includes John Wilkes Booth, the assassin of Abraham Lincoln; Charles
Guiteau, the assassin of President James Garfield; Lee Harvey Oswald, who shot John
F. Kennedy; and John Hinckley, who attempted to assassinate President Ronald
Reagan.

The score by Stephen Sondheim echoes the
time-period reflected by each Presidential era.The songs explore the human condition and failed dreams of the protagonists.Passionately sung with urgent and probing
lyrics and melodies this is the work of a mature artist at the peak of his
craft.

P. J. Griffith, Julia Murney, Stephen DeRosa, and Robert Lenzi in Assassins, book by John Weidman, music and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim, directed by James Bundy.Photo by Carol Rosegg, 2017.

The acting troupe is outstanding.Each person thoroughly embodies their
character, mostly with chilling effectiveness.While every member is superb, standouts include Stephen DeRosa as the
delusional Charles Guiteau; Dylan Frederick as the Balladeer, who comments on the
proceedings and as the languid and unsure assassin Lee Harvey Oswald; Richard
R. Henry as the unbalanced Nixon hater Samuel Byck; Robert Lenzi as the
self-important, courtly John Wilkes Booth; Lauren Molina as the Charles Manson
loving Lynnete "Squeaky" Fromme; and Julia Murney as a pathetic and
distressed Sara Jane Moore.

Director James Bundy plays on the theme
of the carnival setting by injecting menace, the unknown and even humor into
the production.He is keenly attuned to
the desperation and torment of the characters, weaving their stories together
in a socio-pathetic interpretive dance.The strength, however, of the show is when the focus is on the
individual assailant and their inner turmoil.

Assassins, a chance to see
the rarely revived Weidman/Sondheim collaboration, playing at Yale Rep through
April 8th.